Friday, May 20, 2011

I recently came across this sad sight. Strange thing is that half this cemetery was well maintained. I spotted this marker about 20 feet from the cleared section. I wonder why they maintained part of this cemetery but not all of it.

Located at Shelton Cemetery in Mount Vernon, MO.

I could also see the tops of about 3 other markers. I wasn't brave enough to risk getting snake bit, or chiggers, or poison ivy or whatever else lurked there to get any closer. I was able to zoom in with my camera and get this much of the marker.

Buried here are Moses

Hurt Shelton (1804 - 1869)

& wife Nancy Clark Shelton

(1813 - 1869), Vineyard TWP

pioneer settlers who left

Pittsylvania Co., Va in 1836,

lived ?0 years in Todd Co.,

Kansas and moved to Lawrence

Co. Mo.

It says something about owning a farm nearby but I can't make out enough to tell any more. The rest is sadly hidden by the weeds.

4 comments:

Hi Tammi,Great post..... I think it's strange too, when they clear some parts of a cemetery and not all of it. Looks like a winter visit when the weeds have died back might be a good idea.And what on earth are chiggers?

This is my family's cemetery. Moses Hurt Shelton was the grandfather of my grandmother. Sadly, most descendants have either died, moved away, or are no longer capable of maintaining this small family plot. I don't even know who owns the land its on these days. Thank you for your interest in it. It is a beautiful little "forgotten" cemetery.

A NOTE FROM MY UNCLE, DAVID MASON: I worked with the Boy Scouts in 1975 to clean up this cemetery and believe it was called the Lower Hoshaw Cemetery. Moses Hurt Shelton was one of my ancesters. One of the grave stones we found was dated 1754 for the birth of the man burried there. The Lawrence County Record ran an article about his stone and the cemetery. Fred Mieswinkle (now deceased) also documented lots of cemeteries and their history in Lawrence County, Missouri. I believe Lawrence County owns this land.

I think it would be best to let it grow up and cover with trees, plants, etc. This way they will rest in peace and vandals will not know it exists.